BucksFamily
DCL Fan
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2007
- Messages
- 23
Passenger Manifest for this cruise:
Me: Jon, 49 year old attorney from Philadelphia
DW: Debbie, 47 year old part-time editor and homemaker
DD: Emily, 14-years old (need I say more?)
DS: Jacob, 9 years old (loves video games and computers)
I have a long commute to work each day, and I have an ipod to help me pass the time on the train each day. About a year ago or so I began to discover the many, many Disney podcasts that have sprung up. While I have always liked Disney, and had been to WDW a few times, I did not follow Disney-related happenings very closely.
Well, all that began to change when I started listening to several different Disney podcasts on a daily basis! As I continued to listen and learn more about all things Disney, I began to think about a combined WDW / DCL cruise for the family. I should tell you that I had always been one of the (many) people who felt that DCL cruises were not worth the extra $$$ when compared with comparable cruises on other cruise lines. We had even been in Nassau a few years ago when the Wonder was docked, and I recall saying to my wife "look at all those silly people who are spending so much money just to sail on a Disney ship!" (Yes, as you might have guessed, I was later forced to eat those words -- but more on that later!)
In any event, with my Disney appetite whetted by daily exposure to the Disney podcasting community, last September I picked out a Disney travel agent (who advertises on one of the podcasts) and planned a combined trip to WDW in late July, to be followed by a 4-night Bahamas cruise on the Wonder. With the travel agent's help, I settled on a 4 night stay at the Wilderness Lodge at WDW, and then on to the cruise. We decided to rent a car, so that we would have transportation both at WDW as well as transportation to and from Port Canaveral.
I truly believe that my wife and kids went along with the trip just to humor me, since they knew how much I wanted to see and experience all of the Disney details, attractions, etc. that I had heard so much about on the podcasts. (Interestingly, there does not appear to be all that much discussion in the podcasting community about the cruise line, although maybe I just haven't found the right podcasts).
So, with the trip booked last September, the countdown began. While I was definitely looking forward to visiting WDW, I was really intrigued by the cruise line. I was curious to see how DCL compared with other cruise lines I had sailed on (Norwegian, RCCL), and I felt like I needed to justify to my wife why it was worth paying a premium to sail with Disney.
While I was really, really looking forward to the cruise, a primary concern that I had was whether my soon-to-be 14 year-old daughter (her actual birthday was on August 2) would have a good time. She is at that age where Disney isn't really "cool" (or, at least, she can't admit that she still likes Disney), and she is also at that age where she needs her "space," so to speak. Since my son is 9, there is a considerable age (and attitude) difference between them, which can sometimes be a good thing, and sometimes be a bad thing. So, in the back of my mind, as the countdown towards the sailing date continued, I wondered and worried whether my daughter Emily would find happiness aboard the Wonder.
OK, I'll fast forward from September 2007 to July 2008 (during this time, our travel agent helped us book dinner reservations at WDW, explained to us when and how we could book shore excursions on the Wonder, etc. -- nothing terribly exciting, but all necessary).
On July 30, we flew from Philadelphia to MCO on a very uneventful flight on Southwest, and spent four great days at the Wildnerness Lodge at WDW. Since this is a cruise trip report, I'll skip over that portion of our trip, but I can tell you that the theming of the hotel is spectacular and we nearly exhausted ourselves trooping through the theme parks during one of the busiest times of the year (but we still got to ride on tons of attractions and saw a bunch of shows, too).
We lingered at Wilderness Lodge until check out time at 11AM the morning of August 3, then loaded up the rental car and headed off to Port Canaveral. The weather was gloriously sunny (and hot), and I hoped that this would be a good omen for the cruise! The ride to Port Canaveral took about an hour and a half (we ended up making an emergency stop about 5 miles outside of Port Canveral at a McDonald's for an unscheduled "potty" stop, so it took a bit longer than if we had driven non-stop).
The signage at Port Canveral could be better: we got lost once we got into the port area, and had to ask for directions (we could see the Wonder, but we couldn't figure out how to get to where the ship was docked!). We finally got ourselves turned around and drove to the DCL cruise terminal entrance. Security is strict, and our travel documents were checked before we were permitted into the off-loading area beside the terminal.
Even though we arrived at the cruise terminal at around 1PM, it was obvious that many ,many people had arrived before us: the place was bustling and we could see many people already on the ship! I was really anxious to get on board and get the fun started! After dropping off the family (and the luggage), I went to park the car in the lot beside the terminal. The family went inside to register (a DCL rep at the entrance had encouraged us to get on the registration line as soon as possible) Here was the first of several long and frustrating lines: there was a single, long line of cars all waiting to enter the parking lot, and there was but a single attendant controlling the gate to the parking lot. Ugh! All I could do was try to be patient and wait my turn to pay ($15 a day) and get into the lot. On the plus side, the lot is just steps away from the cruise terminal, so once I actually was able to park the car, it took just a minute to enter the terminal.
Next line: once I entered the terminal, there was a good 20 minute wait just to pass through the x-ray screening checkpoint. Ugh! I was ready to cruise, not to wait on lines! Eventually, I made it through the checkpoint, and anxiously went up the escalator to the main terminal.
Guess what? Another line for registration! And this line looked long, long, long. My wife and kids had decided to wait for me without getting in the registration line. Big mistake! There had to be at least 200 people waiting in a single-file line for ticket agents (even though there appeared to be some 20 or so ticket agents, the line was incredibly long, and I don't know why). So, we waited, and we waited, and we waited as the line slowly moved us closer to the registration and ticket agents. As we waited, we cast envious glances at the separate registration area for Castaway Club members which, of course, had no line at all!
Finally, we made it to a ticket agent, who reviewed our documents (which we had printed out online and signed beforehand), and gave us our ship passes (which had Donald Duck on them). OK, I thought, this is the last line, since we can now get on the ship. Wrong! There was yet another huge line for the registration for the onboard kids clubs. I couldn't take yet another line, so we skipped it and decided we would register Jacob once we got on the ship.
So you thought this was the last line? You would be wrong! There was still another line where our ship passes and photo ID had to be presented to the security guards before we could proceed to the ship's gangway. This line wasn't very long, but it was frustrating all the same given the lines we had just experienced and our (mine, really) anxiousness just to get on board already.
We cleared security, and then had the obligatory embarkation pictures taken by the ship photographers just before we entered the ship. At last! we were ready to get on board. I was excited and I think my wife was excited, too. My son looked like he was already going through video game withdrawal (not a good sign!). My daughter looked like a teenager (kind of bored with the whole thing and trying to act "cool" at the same time -- a couple of years ago she would have been so excited, I thought, but she's not my 8-year old "peanut" anymore, I realized).
Well, I leave it there for this first posting! Hope I didn't bore everyone too much. Next posting (which I will try to complete and submit by tomorrow night), I'll go through the first half of our trip on the Wonder, and we'll learn much more about travelling with a teen on the high seas!
Thanks for reading!
Me: Jon, 49 year old attorney from Philadelphia
DW: Debbie, 47 year old part-time editor and homemaker
DD: Emily, 14-years old (need I say more?)
DS: Jacob, 9 years old (loves video games and computers)
I have a long commute to work each day, and I have an ipod to help me pass the time on the train each day. About a year ago or so I began to discover the many, many Disney podcasts that have sprung up. While I have always liked Disney, and had been to WDW a few times, I did not follow Disney-related happenings very closely.
Well, all that began to change when I started listening to several different Disney podcasts on a daily basis! As I continued to listen and learn more about all things Disney, I began to think about a combined WDW / DCL cruise for the family. I should tell you that I had always been one of the (many) people who felt that DCL cruises were not worth the extra $$$ when compared with comparable cruises on other cruise lines. We had even been in Nassau a few years ago when the Wonder was docked, and I recall saying to my wife "look at all those silly people who are spending so much money just to sail on a Disney ship!" (Yes, as you might have guessed, I was later forced to eat those words -- but more on that later!)
In any event, with my Disney appetite whetted by daily exposure to the Disney podcasting community, last September I picked out a Disney travel agent (who advertises on one of the podcasts) and planned a combined trip to WDW in late July, to be followed by a 4-night Bahamas cruise on the Wonder. With the travel agent's help, I settled on a 4 night stay at the Wilderness Lodge at WDW, and then on to the cruise. We decided to rent a car, so that we would have transportation both at WDW as well as transportation to and from Port Canaveral.
I truly believe that my wife and kids went along with the trip just to humor me, since they knew how much I wanted to see and experience all of the Disney details, attractions, etc. that I had heard so much about on the podcasts. (Interestingly, there does not appear to be all that much discussion in the podcasting community about the cruise line, although maybe I just haven't found the right podcasts).
So, with the trip booked last September, the countdown began. While I was definitely looking forward to visiting WDW, I was really intrigued by the cruise line. I was curious to see how DCL compared with other cruise lines I had sailed on (Norwegian, RCCL), and I felt like I needed to justify to my wife why it was worth paying a premium to sail with Disney.
While I was really, really looking forward to the cruise, a primary concern that I had was whether my soon-to-be 14 year-old daughter (her actual birthday was on August 2) would have a good time. She is at that age where Disney isn't really "cool" (or, at least, she can't admit that she still likes Disney), and she is also at that age where she needs her "space," so to speak. Since my son is 9, there is a considerable age (and attitude) difference between them, which can sometimes be a good thing, and sometimes be a bad thing. So, in the back of my mind, as the countdown towards the sailing date continued, I wondered and worried whether my daughter Emily would find happiness aboard the Wonder.
OK, I'll fast forward from September 2007 to July 2008 (during this time, our travel agent helped us book dinner reservations at WDW, explained to us when and how we could book shore excursions on the Wonder, etc. -- nothing terribly exciting, but all necessary).
On July 30, we flew from Philadelphia to MCO on a very uneventful flight on Southwest, and spent four great days at the Wildnerness Lodge at WDW. Since this is a cruise trip report, I'll skip over that portion of our trip, but I can tell you that the theming of the hotel is spectacular and we nearly exhausted ourselves trooping through the theme parks during one of the busiest times of the year (but we still got to ride on tons of attractions and saw a bunch of shows, too).
We lingered at Wilderness Lodge until check out time at 11AM the morning of August 3, then loaded up the rental car and headed off to Port Canaveral. The weather was gloriously sunny (and hot), and I hoped that this would be a good omen for the cruise! The ride to Port Canaveral took about an hour and a half (we ended up making an emergency stop about 5 miles outside of Port Canveral at a McDonald's for an unscheduled "potty" stop, so it took a bit longer than if we had driven non-stop).
The signage at Port Canveral could be better: we got lost once we got into the port area, and had to ask for directions (we could see the Wonder, but we couldn't figure out how to get to where the ship was docked!). We finally got ourselves turned around and drove to the DCL cruise terminal entrance. Security is strict, and our travel documents were checked before we were permitted into the off-loading area beside the terminal.
Even though we arrived at the cruise terminal at around 1PM, it was obvious that many ,many people had arrived before us: the place was bustling and we could see many people already on the ship! I was really anxious to get on board and get the fun started! After dropping off the family (and the luggage), I went to park the car in the lot beside the terminal. The family went inside to register (a DCL rep at the entrance had encouraged us to get on the registration line as soon as possible) Here was the first of several long and frustrating lines: there was a single, long line of cars all waiting to enter the parking lot, and there was but a single attendant controlling the gate to the parking lot. Ugh! All I could do was try to be patient and wait my turn to pay ($15 a day) and get into the lot. On the plus side, the lot is just steps away from the cruise terminal, so once I actually was able to park the car, it took just a minute to enter the terminal.
Next line: once I entered the terminal, there was a good 20 minute wait just to pass through the x-ray screening checkpoint. Ugh! I was ready to cruise, not to wait on lines! Eventually, I made it through the checkpoint, and anxiously went up the escalator to the main terminal.
Guess what? Another line for registration! And this line looked long, long, long. My wife and kids had decided to wait for me without getting in the registration line. Big mistake! There had to be at least 200 people waiting in a single-file line for ticket agents (even though there appeared to be some 20 or so ticket agents, the line was incredibly long, and I don't know why). So, we waited, and we waited, and we waited as the line slowly moved us closer to the registration and ticket agents. As we waited, we cast envious glances at the separate registration area for Castaway Club members which, of course, had no line at all!
Finally, we made it to a ticket agent, who reviewed our documents (which we had printed out online and signed beforehand), and gave us our ship passes (which had Donald Duck on them). OK, I thought, this is the last line, since we can now get on the ship. Wrong! There was yet another huge line for the registration for the onboard kids clubs. I couldn't take yet another line, so we skipped it and decided we would register Jacob once we got on the ship.
So you thought this was the last line? You would be wrong! There was still another line where our ship passes and photo ID had to be presented to the security guards before we could proceed to the ship's gangway. This line wasn't very long, but it was frustrating all the same given the lines we had just experienced and our (mine, really) anxiousness just to get on board already.
We cleared security, and then had the obligatory embarkation pictures taken by the ship photographers just before we entered the ship. At last! we were ready to get on board. I was excited and I think my wife was excited, too. My son looked like he was already going through video game withdrawal (not a good sign!). My daughter looked like a teenager (kind of bored with the whole thing and trying to act "cool" at the same time -- a couple of years ago she would have been so excited, I thought, but she's not my 8-year old "peanut" anymore, I realized).
Well, I leave it there for this first posting! Hope I didn't bore everyone too much. Next posting (which I will try to complete and submit by tomorrow night), I'll go through the first half of our trip on the Wonder, and we'll learn much more about travelling with a teen on the high seas!
Thanks for reading!
